Quotes, Facts and Figures from Furusiyya Nations Cup in Dublin…

IIreland’s Former world champion Dermot Lennon riding Loughview Lou-Lou clearing the Water Jump in the Furusiyya F EI Nations cup in Dublin where Ireland came Joint 3rd along side the USA.Pic Tony Parkes/FEI

Facts and Figures:

Dublin, Ireland presented the last leg of the Europe Division 1 series of the Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup™ Jumping 2013 series.

4 of the eight competing nations were battling for qualifying points towards the inaugural Final which will take place at Real Club de Polo in Barcelona, Spain from 26 to 29 September.

The four nations were Ireland, Great Britain, France and Ukraine.

The six nations that have qualified from Europe Division 1 are Switzerland, France, Great Britain, Netherlands, Ukraine and Ireland.

2 eliminations – Spain’s Sergio Alvarez Moya for a fall from Zipper at the vertical fence 7 in the second round and Ukraine’s Oleg Kraysuk and SIEC Ledgepoint for a fall at the second element of the preceding double.

Quotes:

FEI Jumping Director John Roche – “Congratulations to the British team for their fantastic performance. I’d like to take this opportunity to congratulate the Royal Dublin Society for organising a great event at one of the most wonderful venues in the world, and to thank Furusiyya and Longines without whose help and support none of this would happen”.

British Chef d’Equipe Rob Hoekstra – “congratulations to Alan Wade (course designer). When we walked the course I thought it was big. There were a strange number of clears early on (in the competition) but as the second riders came along it levelled out”.

Robert Smith (GBR) – “for me this is the best place in the world to win!”

Shane Breen (IRL) talking about the host nation performance – “We are disappointed naturally that we didn’t win here today, but we all tried our best and it wasn’t our day. We’re really looking forward to the Finals now in Barcelona – I don’t know what the team will be there as we have the Europeans first, but we’ll keep trying!”

Michel Hendrix (NED) – “this is only the second time that I’ve been doing a Nations Cup. Two times I had the rail down at the end of the course, but still a great feeling to just come away with four faults in each round.”

Nick Skelton (GBR) when asked if it was another special moment in his extraordinary career to be on this winning team today – “Yes it was. It looked like we were heading for a jump-off but we got a break with them [NED] hitting one rail so all good in the end!”

McLain Ward (USA) talking about his team’s performance today – “I think for the most part we are feeling good – we would have liked to have had a little better finish. Today, my student Katie (Dinan) was a little green in the first round but made a great comeback in the second round with a clear. I lost a shoe in the second round early which was a little bit troublesome – but because we were already qualified for the finals in Barcelona we tried a few different combinations and I think we are showing a few solid horses and now we are going to try and pick the best ones and do the best we can in Barcelona!”